Today's Samuel Clemens award for precise writing in a piece about education goes to Amit Paley of the Washington Post. Clemens, discussing the importance of choosing precisely the right word, once wrote, "The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

In today's Washington Post, Amit Paley takes a look at NCLB's goal of having 100% of students proficient by 2014.  He lays out the arguments for both sides pretty well, and the piece is worth a look just for that. 

But what struck me was one word in this sentence:

"Critics, including some teachers unions and many testing experts, view the law as a forced march toward an impossible education nirvana."

Paley gets it.  There are two major national unions, and the AFT alone has 3300 affiliates.  Too many reporters would omit "some" and associate all teachers unions with the loaded phrase "forced march toward an impossible education nirvana."

It's just one word in a piece full of important words, but Paley deserves praise for refusing to treat teachers unions as a monolith.